It is home to a hill temple bearing a cave shrine to Vyagra Narasimha and a temple to Malleswara Shiva. The hill is also known as Sobhanachalam or Sobhanadri. The hill temple also has shrines to Rajyalakshmi, and the Alwar saints of Tamil Nadu. The Varaha theertham or tank is located to the west of the hill. Legend has it that Vishnu in his Varaha avatara dug out this tank, and hence the name Varaha pushkarini. The word kiri refers to Varaha, and hence the name – Akiripalli.
Legend: A king by the name of Subhavrata meditated here and was blessed with a vision of Narasimha and Shiva on this hill. The hill is known as Sobhanadri after the king Subhavrata.
Sri Sobhanachaleswara Swamy temple:
According to a story, This is the most ancient and historical temple in this region. According to the history of this temple about 4000 years ago a king named Subhamatadu did penance to Lord Vishnu, Lord Vishnu appeared before him. He then asked Lord to stay on his head along with his consort Sri Mahalakshmi. Lord Vishnu told him to pray to Lord Shiva to fulfill his wish. He did so and as a result, he took the shape of a hill which is called as Sobhanachala.
According to the wish of Sobhanachala Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu stayed on that hill. Later in the 14th-15thcenturies, the temple was constructed by devotees. In olden days flowers from the garden of the Agiripalli Narasimha temple were sent to Sri Sita Rama Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam. It is believed that the Varaha Pushkarini (pond) in this temple was dug by Lord Sri Maha Vishnu in Adi Varaha Moorthy avatar. Hence it is called as Ananthasarasu.
Another History:
There is another legend related by the ancient devotees about Sobhanachala temple and is as follows. Once upon a time, Lord Sri Mahavishnu and Mahadeva were visiting the Earth. It was an evening time when Mahadeva and Mahavishnu were near Agiripalli. They were looking for a place to stay over for the night. They were impressed with the scenic beauty and tranquility of the place near Agiripalli.
They decided to spend the night in the scenic and peaceful environment.Sri Mahavishnu wanted to perform Sandhya Vandanam and requested Mahadeva to find a suitable place for their stay. After searching for a while Mahadeva found a nice place on the top of the mountain and settled down there, forgetting to inform Sri Mahavishnu. Sri Mahavishnu waited for some time for Mahadeva to return, but finding that had Mahadeva did not come back; he went in search of him. When he found that Mahadeva settled down comfortably on the top of the mountain, Sri Mahavishnu got angry, and thumped the head of Mahadeva with his fist and cursed him that nobody will visit him without having darshan of self (Sri Mahavishnu).Saying this, Sri Mahavishnu came down in two steps and settled down at the bottom of the mountain.Even now, one can notice the impression of Sri Mahavishnu’s fingers on the top of Shivalinga in Agiripalli and the two large stone slabs (representing the imprint of the footsteps of Sri Mahavishnu).
Source:
https://www.indianetzone.com/3/akiripalli_temple.htm
https://gotirupati.com/sobhanachala-swamy-temple/